


Second Times the Charm

by allison221b



Category: Avengers, Darcy - Fandom, Loki - Fandom, Marvel, Tasertricks - Fandom
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-25
Updated: 2015-06-02
Packaged: 2018-03-25 15:52:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 17,330
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3816208
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allison221b/pseuds/allison221b
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Loki and Darcy have fallen in love but when she dies, Loki takes drastic measures. Loki goes back in time to have more moments with her, and to try and prevent her death, only she doesn’t know him because he went back too far. All the Avengers are wary of his new behavior, and don’t know what to make of it. Loki has to try and make her fall in love with him again, all while trying to figure out how to stop her from dying</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> this is my first fic I've ever posted on here. I first posted it on tumblr, but finally got an account here. I don't write much, and I definitely need practice, but I thought I'd give this idea a try. No idea how many chapters it'll be. I'll try to update it as much as a I can.

Loki couldn’t think. Could breathe. 

He raced along the sidewalk, barely registering his surroundings

But he knew he had to get back to Asgard. He only hoped it would be possible to do what he needed to do. And Asgard could help. He would consult his books, maybe even ask his mother – but no, his mother was dead. Just like someone else he loved.

Finally, he found a good, open space

“Heimdell, open the Biofrost!” He didn’t care if it took all night. He would stand here and annoy the gatekeeper if he had to.

Not like hadn’t done it before.

But he didn’t have long to wait. The sky swirled, the clouds parted and a shaft of light enveloped him as he made the trip back his to home. 

He thought he heard Thor’s voice behind him as he departed Midgard, but he couldn’t be sure.

He wasted no time before transporting himself to the palace, startling a few guards, then finally to his room. 

He let himself breath for a moment.

That was a mistake.

It all came rushing back to him.

Shield soldiers had entered the compound, and demanded they give him up. Darcy had protested, but they shouted for her to shut up. It was strange; they weren’t acting like normal Shield troops. Again, Darcy started to say something, but when a soldier pointed a gun at Loki for reaching for a weapon, Darcy had leapt in front of him.

And that was the end.

They shot her without a thought.

In his rage, he had killed the whole roomful of invaders, not caring, not seeing. He cradled Darcy’s body in his lap, praying that she would return to him. 

That was where everyone found him, the Avengers, and Jane, who knelt on the other side of Darcy and wept. 

Loki couldn’t answer the questions they asked, but it seemed like they knew something he didn’t. He heard a few words here and there, like “Hydra” and “takeover” and “we don’t know how many there are”

But at the sight of Thor, his own brother, he remembered Asgard. He remembered wanting to take Darcy there someday, to even introduce her to his – to Odin. 

In the midst of his thoughts, he suddenly remembered. It was a long shot, a serious long shot, but he had to try.

That was when he had given Darcy over to Jane, and rushed out to find a way home.

Now here he was.

He brought himself back to reality, and looked around his bookshelves. It wasn’t long before found what he was looking for. 

He thought he heard footsteps outside, people coming to his room. To lock him up he surmised. He was supposed to be serving time on Midgard, after all. Though his sentence had been going well, and might’ve been reduced in light of recent events. 

Knock knock.

He ignored it. He couldn’t stop now

He closed his eyes, concentrating. 

Five months ago, five months. The Dead live, the clock reverse, the breath returns. 

He repeated it three times, reviewing the spell once again, then using his magic. 

More noise outside his door, more commotion.

But the spell was starting to take root.

The light of the spell grew into a ball, which enveloped him.

The door opened.

But they were too late.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Five Months Ago for Loki, but present day for everyone else. It takes him a minute to remember everything at first.

_Five months ago for Loki, but present day for everyone else. At first he doesn’t remember everything, like going back in time for example. It takes him a minute_

“C’mon Jane, you gotta eat something,”

 

“Darcy, I needed those samples 10 minutes ago”

 

“Dude I know, but you skipped lunch. Here, have a muffin.”

 

“I don’t want a muffin” Jane was looking through her binders, sounding both annoyed and distracted.

 

“Yes, you do” Darcy wouldn’t take no for answer. She had a good job at Shield, in computers, and sometimes helping Jane out (just like old times, cept without the sweltering heat or the “gravitational anomalies”)

 

and with that, she thrust the muffin into Jane’s face, practically into her mouth.

 

“mmphhfff” Jane sputtered at first, but soon chomped into the crumbly goodness like there was no tomorrow

 

Darcy grinned at her old boss.

 

“See? I told you.”

 

A knock at the door, and someone reminded them of the 3 o’clock meeting with the Avengers and Mr. Fury.

 

Darcy grabbed another muffin, this one for herself, and waited for Jane to get her stuff. Then both ladies trotted off to the conference room.

 

Darcy was happy she was in on these meetings. Granted it might only be because of her connection to Jane, who had a connection to Thor, who happened to be an Avenger, but hey, she wasn’t complaining.

 

The conference room was spacious. The chairs were also pretty comfortable (Tony had seen to that. Something about how if he had to sit through long, meaningless meetings, then he damn well was going to be comfortable in them).

 

A few people milled about, not sitting down yet. Darcy helped Jane set all her things down, and then went to talk to Steve.

 

“Hey Spangled Pants,” Darcy’s new nickname for Steve always made him chuckle.

 

“Hey, Darcy,” Steve was all casual today, no Cap uniform. She liked him this way, though she appreciated the uniform, she liked seeing him be comfortable blending in with society.

 

“What’s up?”

 

“Not much lately. Actually, been watching more stuff that I missed.”

 

Darcy had recommended Harry Potter a few weeks ago, and was about to ask if that was what he was watching, when Tony and Fury both came in.

 

Everyone went to their seats and looked expectantly at their Director.

 

Thor was still talking to Jane, who was trying to look concerned.

 

Fury raised an eyebrow, as did Darcy. Thor was usually the soul of decorum in these settings, but apparently not today.

 

“Something you want to share with the class, Thor?”

 

“Sir, I cannot find my brother this morning.”

 

Fury sighed a deep, long-suffering sigh. Tony just looked amused.

 

“your brother is not allowed to leave this building. We’ll have to search for him. But before we do, I need to brief you and Darcy” – now she too was looking at Fury – “on his new assigned supervisor.”

 

“We believe it would be best for Loki to work with Darcy on her projects, help in any way he can, while you supervise. Are you up to the challenge Thor?”

 

“I will do my absolute best.”

 

“Why me?” Darcy didn’t often speak up at this meetings, but it seemed she had earned the right too.

 

Fury gave a small smile, “because you are the only one he doesn’t know here. He has been associated with all of the Avengers, and even Jane. But not you. You being his supervisor, and not holding a previous grudge against you, should help him to acclimate, to not hate us mortals so much.”

 

“and Thor can protect me right?”

 

“Yes, Lady Darcy, I will defend you, even from my brother.”

 

Fury nodded, “well that settles it.”

 

“one more question,” Darcy couldn’t resist,

 

“What is it, Miss Lewis?”

 

“Can I make him get me my coffee?”

 

This earned her a few quiet laughs around the table. Fury even had a slightly less somber tone in his voice when he answered her

 

“you can, but try not to annoy him too much.”

 

“He seems like a challenge, actually.”

 

“you know him?”

 

“Well, we’ve talked a few times. He doesn’t seem to hate me”

 

Just then, the door opened and Fury turned and started to say something like “not now, Amelia, we’re in a meeting”, when Loki himself entered the room.

 

He didn’t so much as enter, as he did run inside. He paused, looked around, looking slightly frantic, until he saw Darcy.

 

His features immediately relaxed with relief and he rushed over to her

 

She was puzzled about this, but not as shocked as she would be when, before anyone could blink, his mouth was on hers and he was kissing her. And holy damn he was good kisser for being a homicidal maniac. Her lips responded to his like they were familiar, and she was just reaching up to grasp his shoulder when she heard footsteps, and felt Loki be pulled away

 

Thor and Natasha had both apprehended Loki and pulled him a safe distance from Darcy

 

Darcy’s head had spun with the kiss, but it was more who had kissed her.

 

For once, she was speechless.

 

“What is the meaning of this?”

 

Even Tony looked shocked, and was now creeping up on a confused smile, bordering on his typical smugness.

 

Fury couldn’t speak for a moment. Unreadable emotions flickered on his face, before he stepped up to Loki

 

“just what do you think you’re doing?”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> all I have for now.

 

10 minutes and 20 seconds earlier

 

Loki had woken up in his cell. He couldn’t remember his trip for a moment. The first thought he had been Darcy. Darcy was alive; she was alive, not dead. His guard had unlocked his cell, and said his brother was coming, but Loki didn’t want to see Thor, he wanted to see Darcy.

 

He had used his magic to make the guard forget, and then to make himself teleport out.

It took him a bit of time to catch his breath. He had never time traveled before. Slowly, it was coming back, but all he could think was Darcy, and his desire for her, and his sense of urgency.

 

It didn’t take too long to find the right room.

 

Hearing her voice sparked something in him, and for a moment he remembered her dead body. But her voice continued, and led him to right door.

 

He burst inside, and at first he didn’t spot her.

 

Turning his head this way and that, with an urgency he didn’t fully understand (did the spell say anything about being temporarily disoriented?)

 

He finally saw her. Darcy. His Darcy. All his emotions came flooding back to him, and before he could register who else was in the room with her, he obeyed his instincts.

 

He had kissed her. She seemed surprised, but had kissed him back.

 

But all too soon, he felt arms pulling him back.

 

Her face registered shock.

 

She didn’t know him.

 

She didn’t know his kiss.

 

Fury was asking him something, and he had to try and keep himself from looking around the Director to see Darcy’s face.

 

“Just what do you think you’re doing?”

 

Loki felt it then, the desperation. This was different from what he felt trying to get here. It was more of a quiet desperation, but it was clawing inside him, trying to get everyone to remember, to get Darcy to remember.

 

“even I didn’t expect that, and that’s saying something” Tony’s voice broke into his thoughts

 

“Damn.”

 

Darcy’s single word is what helped him fully remember.

 

That was when he realized. He was acting crazy to them. It came rushing back. This point in time was before he had started working with Darcy. In fact, that was probably what this meeting was about, why Thor had come to get him. They had no idea what was really going on. And they probably wouldn’t believe him.

Still, he didn’t think he could hide his feelings. Nothing else could explain what he had just done. For a girl who had only known him a few weeks, and not very well. At this point in time, all they had exchanged were a few sarcastic moments, and now, well, a kiss.

 

For once, he decided to throw caution to the wind.

 

“Director Fury, I’ve come back in time to this moment. And I would appreciate not being apprehended” he side-eyed his brother and the red haired assassin, “from the woman I love”

 

Awkward silence. Hell, if there was a word more profound than awkward, than it would define the atmosphere in the room.

 

Tony struggled to not spit out his drink.

 

Thor looked even more shocked than Darcy, if that were possible.

 

“Brother, how is that possible? You’ve never been able to do that before”

“What I’d like to know,” Fury cut in, clearly not having any of this, “is whether this is a trick or maybe I’m finally going senile.”

 

“Probably both” Tony muttered

 

Darcy gave a half smile at that. But she could still feel Loki’s lips on hers. It was so unexpected. Not that she hadn’t enjoyed it, she had, and she had kissed him back oddly enough.

 

She stood up.

 

She didn’t know what she doing, just that she felt she had to do something.

 

Words were usually her forte, she never ran out of them, but it seemed Loki’s kiss had taken them right out of her mouth.

 

She had an odd picture of Loki literally pulling words out of her mouth, which was silly, but then it changed to her saying a few wonderful words as he used his hands to – she shook her head.

 

“Oh-kay.”

 

The word sounded loud in the room. It sounded almost foreign to her, but it was her speaking

 

Loki looked at her almost hopefully.

 

She looked back, though not in the same way, and that deflated him a bit.

 

“Can’t we – oh, I don’t know, test him to see if he’s telling the truth or not? Like, I dunno, ask him what Tony’s gonna say next”

 

Tony looked down for this, “he can try, but no one can predict my sarcasm” he piped in, half serious

 

“And um, maybe you should let him go, Thor? Uh….Black Widow?”

 

Black Widow, aka Natasha, raised an eyebrow at Darcy, but otherwise looked unaffected.

Darcy hesitantly turned to Fury, who first nodded to Thor and Natasha, who let go of Loki, but remained standing near him.

 

“Sir? What do you say?”

 

Fury studied her for a minute, and then looked at Loki, then back at her.

 

Loki, in between silently hoping someone would magically remember, was slowly growing more tense. He was grateful to Darcy of the past, who was everything he remembered: good, kind, smart, sarcastic, and resourceful.

 

“Fine. Do you have a question in mind, Miss Lewis? Something related to you, perhaps, since he seems to like you all of a sudden?”

 

Darcy was surprised the Director hadn’t put up more of a fight.

 

But now she had to think of a question. Or questions as the case may be.

 

There were a few things she wanted to ask, some of them inappropriate for a Shield meeting with the Director present, so she tried to think of something else besides…what she originally thought of asking.

 

So she opted for a memory of hers, from her teen years.

 

She stepped closer and asked her question:

“What happened at my sister’s 15th birthday party?”

 

She had only told a handful of people here, so arguably it didn’t have a lot of credibility. But Jane was here, and so was Steve, so it could be verified for authenticity, but it was Loki’s answer that mattered.

 

Loki didn’t answer at first.

 

The tension and silence seemed to grow, covering the room like a thick blanket.

 

Loki had to carefully sort through his memories, all while still getting used to this time, to this new timeline.

 

But he remembered what she had told him.

He opened his mouth and told them the story.

And to Darcy’s surprise, he got it right, down to the last detail.

 

She remembered it vividly, as a lesson in not taking revenge.

 

Her younger sister was spoiled. Darcy’s parents had gotten her more for her birthday than Darcy got for her own. Darcy was jealous of her sister, of how her parents always let her get away with stuff.

 

Darcy had tried both dancing and art, her parents had showed up but hadn’t taped anything. Also, they had been busier then, which meant they had missed a few recitals and art shows (which is probably what discouraged Darcy from continuing them in the first place). But for Kara, her parents taped every competition she had been in and was looking forward to showing the dance recital, the piano recital and the singing recital tapes at her party.

Darcy being the jealous sort had decided to record over one of them. Not all the tapes, just the best one, the one Kara was most proud of: the most recent singing one. It was replaced with reruns of some show Darcy didn’t even watch or care about, but it would drive Kara crazy.

There was cake and games, and before the presents, Kara showed her recital videos. Starting with dance, then piano, and then, saving the best for last, showed the video of her singing. But when the theme song to the show started and it was clear that it wasn’t a recital, Kara practically burst into tears. Darcy had been secretly pleased at first, but had felt terrible afterwards.

No one had found out about Darcy’s antics against her sister, not until a year ago. Darcy was now 23, and Kara was 21. They had mended fences, and maintained a semi close relationship. Bringing up this story now though reminded Darcy of her regret and how she would take it back if she could.

 

Loki finished the story, looking pleased he had remembered so many details.

“Wow. You remembered everything.”

“yes, I do tend to remember important details.”

 

“Aw c’mon, that wasn’t a good question. You should’ve asked him if he remembers your bra size or something”

“Hey!” Darcy tried to sound irritated but she was rather amused.

 

Loki’s face darkened considerably. “Stark, if you ever speak to her that way again, I will skin you alive”

That sobered Tony up. A little.

 

“How do we know that wasn’t a trick?” Steve spoke for the first time.

 

“We don’t.” Natasha surprised everyone by speaking up. “We’ll have to see what happens.” She looked to Fury, “you were ready to give the okay under normal circumstances. Trying to keep him away from her” the redhead nodded in Darcy’s direction, “might not be the best idea. Unless you wanted to use her as an incentive to gain information”

 

Finally, Fury spoke up. “We have Thor for most of the information we need. As it happens, Miss Lewis would help Loki become acclimated to our world, help him have a more positive outlook on humanity, or as he calls us ‘ants’ All the avengers” –Nick nodded at everyone still seated – “already volunteered to be backup and to play bodyguard if needed.”

 

 

“So what should I call you, Reindeer in Love? Horny?” Tony quipped, as his eyes practically lit up with new ideas of nicknames for new and improved Loki.

Loki glared, but didn’t say a word.

Darcy thought it would’ve been interesting, even fun, helping Loki get used to Earth. But doing it under normal circumstances would’ve been tough enough. Now he claimed to know her already, even…have feelings for her? It was too weird. But he didn’t seem insincere; no on the contrary he seemed very sincere. It could still be a trick. If this was a trick, then why this particular scheme? She couldn’t think of a reason he would pull something like this.

 

“The question remains,” Fury continued, “is will Miss Lewis accept this assignment?”

 

Darcy realized everyone was looking at her. She realized Fury had said her name and she wasn’t paying attention.

 

“Sorry?”

 

Fury sighed once more.

 

“Do you accept this assignment, given the change in circumstance?”

 

Darcy wasn’t about to turn down an important assignment. Even if Loki was slightly weirding her out, his story was true. She just hoped he wasn’t planning on killing her or her friends. She did need job experience.

 

“I accept.”

 

And besides, she was curious.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First day of work

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have ideas on how to move the plot forward, but this one is kind of a filler one. So enjoy, and I'll keep you all posted. Thanks for all the kudos and comments!

            Their first day wasn’t too eventful. Darcy just put Loki to work organizing her desk and the file cabinet. The fun would come as a reward for the work. At least, that’s what she told him. She was curious, that was for sure, but she was also a little puzzled. And she didn’t get puzzled too often, at least not like this anyway. She hoped he was sincere about everything, but if he wasn’t, he was an incredible actor. He still came across as kinda intimidating, but around her? He wasn’t terribly talkative, but he watched her. And not necessarily in a creepy or intimidating way, though she drew the line at him watching her eat. (“what are you doing?” she had asked after taking her first bite of her sandwich. He had immediately looked down, but offered no explanation. She had no real idea of what was going on in his head. At least he hadn’t tried to kiss her again. Not that she had minded being kissed, but still. This was Loki we were talking about, Thor’s adopted brother, supervillain, once brought an alien army to destroy New York, that kind of thing. She babbled on, about what TV show she would introduce to him first, trying to decide between Game of Thrones (she liked it and it might remind him of his home), or The Office (a must see). So as she ruminated about the pros and cons of which would be a good starter, Loki continued to watch her.

            Loki’s mind was a thousand places at once. He remembered how their first day originally went. He had been mostly uncooperative, having to work with a mortal, even one as pretty as her. She hadn’t been too fazed by this, but it had still been awkward. Obviously that had changed over time, but he needed to remember how. And he needed to figure out what to change. Clearly he had changed some things just by going back in time. Should he try and restrain himself from changing things too much? Should he let the natural course of events take place with no manipulation? Whatever he did or did not do, he knew why he had come back. To save her.

            His feelings were only amplified, seeing her in the past. The way she used some form of humor (she called it her own special brand of snark), the way she talked about things, whether it was something she loved or hated, he could listen to her all day. And he realized even more now that he cared for her, even…loved her? He hadn’t admitted it to himself till now. But he realized that he did. And it took all he had not to kiss her again, and hope that she would remember something, even though it wasn’t possible. Even though she clearly didn’t feel the same way (yet), she had seemed to return the kiss. That had sparked some hope in him, only for it to fizzle out because she clearly hadn’t remembered him. Though, she had been impressed he’d remembered her story about the birthday party. If he combed through his mind, then maybe he could write a timeline of events and see where it went wrong and what led to Darcy’s death. Dare he try to change anything? He had time traveled only once or twice before, and never this far back. He would have to find a way to study the affects, though he knew those affects would be hard to find, since this kind of travel didn’t happen much (that he knew of). He was so lost in his thoughts he didn’t realize the time.

            “hey, uh, Lokster,” Darcy snapped him out of his thoughts, “it’s time to go. Thanks for helping me”

            He stood up from his chair, dropped the files on her newly clean desk, and turned to face her.

She was in front of him, looking up at him (her being shorter than him was definitely another charming quality of hers). “So, do you know where you’re staying or do you need me to show you?”

He remembered his room location, and how to get there, but he decided to ask for her help anyway. “I remember the room, but would you be so kind as to take me to it?”

“Sure. You know, you did good work in there. I expected more complaining, or at least sullen silence.”

The two walked out of the room and into the hallway, getting into the elevator at the end. Stark Towers was huge, and at the moment, housed nearly half of the employees that worked there, including Darcy herself. He nearly bumped her shoulder getting in after her, and he almost wished he had because he realized how much he missed her, missed her touch. And she didn’t even realize how he felt yet, much less how she would come to feel for him.

Loki realized he hadn’t responded yet. “You are welcome, Miss Lewis.” He swallowed, trying to maintain an air of aloofness.

“Darcy, call me Darcy it’s way less formal” she smiled at him. And for a moment, their eyes locked. He wanted so much to tell her everything, but he knew he couldn’t. It might change things too much.

Darcy looked back, smiling, and looked into his eyes. She didn’t know what she saw there; it was unreadable at first. The man was definitely guarded, she’d give him that. But what she hadn’t expected to see was affection. It caught her off guard, but she recovered, thinking she imagined it. But the lingering thought was there still, in the back of her mind.

They talked a little more, warming up to each other, but all too soon they had exited the elevator, walked another hallway, and reached his apartment. She said thank you again, and departed back to the elevator.

            He watched her go, already planning tomorrow’s events. He needed to figure out the timeline. His memories were all he had. As he entered his new quarters, he wondered whom he might ask for a writing utensil and some paper.

            Darcy watched the elevator doors close. He was different than she expected. Not annoyed with her, not even her incessant babble. Their first meeting had been punctuated with a kiss, but he definitely seemed more restrained now. Did he regret it? She hoped not. Secretly, she didn’t regret it. Not one bit.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> bit of a filler. Don't worry, I got good stuff planned :)

Darcy got coffee that morning, and walked into the building with a smile. She hadn’t expected that working with the God of Mischief would be fun at all. But it was. And their time hanging out watching different shows and movies only made their work that much more eventful. He asked questions, not in a superior way, but in a curious way. They talked. He wasn’t as closed off as she thought he would be. It was her last day before Christmas vacation. She had thought about going home, but her parents informed her that they were going on their own vacation and she’d have to find something else to do that break. She wasn’t too disappointed. She could stay behind, with Jane and have a quiet little Christmas. Course, Stark was bound to have some sort of party. If he did, then she could go have some fun, maybe even drag Loki along.

Over the last few weeks, they had shared a lot. Whether it was while they worked (cleaning up New York took a while) or on their own time. She asked about his childhood, what it was like being adopted, and she shared about her own growing up experiences. Her mom was a scientist, and her dad sold model trains. The two couldn’t be more different on the outside, but she shared with Loki that it worked. Many a night was spent either at her own place or his place, sitting on the couch, or the counter, or even the floor. Throughout all this, she noticed that he was trying to keep his distance, trying to keep everything casual. He hadn’t tried to kiss her again. But she found that she wouldn’t have minded if he had, or if he had at least loosened up enough to tell her what was going on. Sometimes he would look outside, and see the clouded sky and frown slightly. He would clam up about it, and not tell her what was going on, but she accepted it.

 

Loki wondered at the sky, at the clouds and thunder. It was winter here on Midgard, after all, but something about it made him look twice. He never told Darcy of course. He might’ve learned a lesson about powers and time travel, and he remembered that in the original timeline, he had investigated what was going on, but hadn’t continued. His feelings for her had stopped him. He had most of his magic, but was not at full capacity. Fury had seen to that. And Loki had thought about trying to use magic to get Darcy to remember, but then he realized it wouldn’t work. The timeline was different now; he couldn’t enchant her to love him. Everyone would blame him and he would be cast out. Not that he was bitter or anything.

He knew he would be called to go with the Avengers at some point, to fight some new threat, but he had no idea when it would happen. He knew it came after the Iron Man’s party, but that might not happen. Or it might happen sooner or later than he thought.

He enjoyed getting to know Darcy, even if it was the second time around. He knew better questions to ask this time.

 

“So your parents are leaving you behind?” He asked, trying to mask his enthusiasm that this might mean she would stay here, with him.

She had barely entered the office and already he was asking more questions.

She shrugged off her coat before answering

 

“Well, they’re not leaving me, they’re going on their own vacation. Not that I mind.”

“Does that mean you’re staying here, then?” He tried not to sound too hopeful

“Yeah I’m staying. Jane is too, so we can hang out. All four of us, if you want.”

 

Loki’s interaction with his brother since that first day in the conference room had been… interesting to say the least. Thor had been suspicious, puzzled, but not hostile. At some point, he had accepted the strangeness and even welcomed it. Jane, Darcy’s scientist friend, had remained suspicious and cool towards him, but had warmed a little when he complemented her research.

 

“Loki?”

He hadn’t responded. “All four of us. I believe I would like that.”

“Great! It’ll be for Christmas, then. You do know about Christmas right?”

Loki had to stop himself from grinning. Yes, he knew about Christmas, about Midgardian traditions, but he decided to let her explain anyway

“I have rudimentary knowledge. Why don’t you enlighten me, Darcy Lewis?”

He could hear perfectly well from across the room, but he walked over anyway. He tried to find something to do at the other desk and went to work while she began her explanation

“Christmas, as it is now, is a commercialized event that takes place so people can spend money and get presents. And put up decorations and a tree.”

Loki couldn’t help but smile. Even if she didn’t remember, even if he had dauntless tasks before him, right now, life wasn’t half bad.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I'm putting in a lot of exposition, but I promise there will be more dialogue later.   
> thanks so much for all those who support this fic! I know it's unbeta'd and probably needs work, but thank you so much in spite of all that :)

Ch. 6

Darcy was intrigued. Not that she hadn’t been before, but now she really was. It was one thing for her new friend, a certain God of Mischief, to play nice at first and then show his true colors, possibly reveal an evil scheme and reveal the reason he had randomly kissed her. But none of that happened. He’d been honest from the start, confessing his time travel and his love all in one day. Before the meeting, she’d been anticipating a sullen god who would resent being babysat. But Loki hadn’t really been as bad as she thought. Hell, the man was hard pressed to be away from her (everytime she remembered that he’d said he loved her, called her “the woman he loves” it had thrown her.) Was he lying? He didn’t seem to be. And whether he knew the answer about her sister’s party because he really had time traveled or for some other reason remained a mystery. She hadn’t asked him any more about it. Quiet honestly, she had wanted to, but it seemed an awkward subject. Normally, she thrived on awkward, and she loved making people squirm. But this was one time that she wasn’t so keen to open her mouth and say whatever she wanted.

And the question she had wanted to ask just never seemed to find its way past her mind. Why had he kissed her? He DID know something, he knew about her sister’s birthday party for crying out loud, but how? She didn’t remember telling him. It was strange. She didn’t think he was dangerous or lying, but since those were her two main options, it was taking a while to come up with another theory. She had accepted this assignment before she’d met him, and after the craziness, she’d accepted anyway; because she was curious and she wanted to see what else he had up his sleeve. As far as the romance angle, she had barely admitted to herself that she wanted to explore it more. Especially after all the conversations they’d had. For once, a guy wasn’t interested in her because of her cup size.

The other Avengers remained close, just in case, when they weren’t working their own assignments and living their own lives. Tony made a few wisecracks when he visited, Thor came by when he wasn’t with Jane, and even Natasha had come by just to see how things were going (that, and recommend Darcy learn to defend herself. Darcy had appreciated the offer, but said that her trusty Taser was working just fine for her.

Steve had stopped by, just to say hey, or so he said. He had even greeted Loki, if a bit stiffly. Cap hadn’t beat around the bush with her though, even asked if she needed a bodyguard.

“I mean, we don’t really know if he’s telling the truth. It seemed fairly far-fetched, are you sure you don’t need me?”

Darcy smiled. It was nice to know that her friend cared about her, but she was fine “I’m fine, Steve. Don’t worry, I’m sure Wonderboy is harmless”

(Loki had raised an eyebrow at the nickname, but otherwise pretended he wasn’t listening to their conversation)

“Well if you’re sure. What does Thor think about all this? Does he trust his brother?” Steve sounded curious this time, as well as concerned.

“I think so. Thor seemed the most shocked out of anyone, but he’s recovered. And if the god of thunder thinks it’s okay to leave me with the god of Mischief, then it should be okay with you, super soldier,” Darcy patted him on the shoulder, “don’t worry. I’m okay. I think he’s warming up to me; not that he wasn’t before, with his lovey-dovey feelings and all.”

Steve seemed satisfied with that answer, and said goodbye.

\--

It was the last day of work before Christmas break, and Darcy was wondering if she should ask Loki what he was doing over break. Well, she figured they would hang out, but then there was Stark’s New Years Eve party to think about. She didn’t have a date, and she wondered if Loki would want to go. But would he think she was asking him just because he’d declared his love? She’d be lying if that hadn’t sparked something in her, a curiosity at first, but as she got to know him, to see past his smooth persona…nevermind. She would ask him as a friend. Nothing more. Because it was too much to hope that she’d finally found a good one.

 

For his part, Loki was going a little crazy. He was unsure whether to tell Darcy more about his time travel, and why he was there, not to mention the crazy weather that was stirring up. He had explored it, used some of the equipment to monitor the conditions, but he felt guilty for doing it in secret. Guilt is something he hadn’t felt in a long time. And he was unfamiliar with how to deal with it, aside from repressing it. But the phenomena was continuing; clouds in an otherwise sunny day, dark clouds, not the ordinary puffy white cotton ball clouds as Darcy would put it. If he didn’t know better, he would say someone was trying to create a portal, but for what purpose and what kind of portal he didn’t know.

He had become friends with Darcy, this mortal he had already fallen for. But that was in another time; she didn’t feel the same way now. He had lost that Darcy already; he hadn’t even stayed to find out how she had died. Maybe he should’ve; it might’ve helped him figure out his next move.

Events were transpiring differently than they originally had. Their friendship had obviously gotten off to a better start this time, but he didn’t dare let himself hope that she had somehow fallen for him. And if she did, was it just because he said he loved her? He hadn’t actually said I love you to her face; just openly declared it to a room full of earth’s mightiest heroes, the “Avengers” as they called themselves. But since then, he hadn’t brought it up again. And neither had she. Was she surprised? Puzzled? Disgusted that a villain loved her? One that she could never love back?

She had become his friend though. He hoped that wasn’t an act of some kind. But no, she was too sincere and blunt to pretend friendship. At least that’s what he remembered about her.

_“Of course we’re friends. So long as you don’t try to kill any more of them, or blow up any more cities, endangering innocent lives, etc. etc.”_

She’d said that in the “original timeline” as he now referred to it in his mind. She'd said something similar now, though with less of a bite. She was less pissed off at him, or so it seemed, in this timeline. He tried to not dwell on it too much, on “his” Darcy, because it was futile, and distracted from the present reality of trying to figure out how to save her life. That was the looming reality, apart from whether or not she grew to love him back (it seemed impossible the first time, even more improbable the second time around).

He didn’t think he could let himself hope again.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tasertricks kiss :) (at the end)

Loki was getting distracted. Seeing Darcy alive had given him hope, but now it was a question of how to prevent her death. It was why he came back after all. But he’d gone back too far. But even as he tried to keep his mind on preventing her death, he was distracted because he was falling for her all over again. Even now, as he helped around the Tower, with the science projects and helping Darcy with whatever task she assigned him, he felt it again. The pull towards Darcy, that longing that felt familiar and new at the same time. He watched her now, getting more coffee, and walking back to her desk, the desk he was seated across from.

He could tell she was a little confused about his actions, but she was still the same. Still Darcy, the woman he loved. He had barely admitted it to himself before, but after he’d traveled back, he’d thrown caution to the wind.

Maybe that had been a mistake. He should’ve been more careful, blended in. Maybe he should’ve waited until…until what? Until her body was laid in the ground, and the mourners gone, and he was left alone? No. He’d been acting on his emotions. That was a mistake.

He went over the events that had happened before. In the original five months, they’d become friends, after he stopped being annoyed by her blunt chatter and questions, and they were getting somewhere. They’d kissed at one point, at a party, one of Stark’s. He had no way of knowing which of Stark’s parties that was, in this timeline, in the present day, in this new reality. Some time after that, they’d gone farther, but hadn’t told anyone yet. They hadn’t really told anyone anything. She’d died a two weeks later.

There had also been strange atmospheric conditions, but the Avengers and Shield had found out about that, and they’d gone off to fight whatever new villain it was. Darcy wanted to stay in touch on the radio, but it got cut off in the storm. It was a blur after that; images, feelings. Getting the call after the battle, hearing about Darcy’s death, seeing her body crumpled on the floor. Feeling the air sucked out of him at the sight, barely able to speak before he had charged out of the room to find a way to go back in time.

            Darcy was talking again, but it took him a minute to realize she was asking him something.

“…and I was thinking if you don’t have anything to do, and we all know you’re lost without me, you can come with me.” She took a drink of her coffee and looked at him

“Loki?”

“Yes?” He shook his head, focusing his mind on her.  
“you okay, you looked a little lost there”

“I’m perfectly well. You were saying something?”

“Yeah, do you want to come with me? To Stark’s party, his New Years Eve bash, something about his parties being the best way to ring in the New Year”

“Assuming you have no one else to escort you.”

“Nah, Steve’s going with Nat, just as friends though. I think.” Darcy couldn’t help but detect a slight note of jealousy. Was he jealous over the idea that she might go with someone else to this party? The idea made her smile. And it only added to her feelings, how undefined they were, about the god of mischief, and everything about him.

“Then I would be happy to.” He nodded his ascent, even smiling back at her.

“Great! I totally get to pick out a dress now; it’s gonna be awesome. And you, you have a tux right? Or something like that, I don’t know if it has to be a suit, I’m just assuming,” Darcy was rambling, like she usually did. But he didn’t mind.

 

Later, he stood outside her door. Loki was wearing a suit, though not the most expensive one Stark had offered.

It seemed that all the Avengers were trying to keep tabs on him, in some way. Some more than others.

The Captain, Steve, would stop by to talk to Darcy, since they were friends. Even make the occasional comment towards Loki, who found the young man tolerable.

Natasha, the assassin, would also talk to Darcy, but not really to him. She did side eye him, but not much else.

His own brother, Thor, talked with both of them, and seemed happy to find that they were getting along well.

He was becoming more acquainted with Dr. Banner, which was a welcome surprise.

Even Stark, the Iron Man, could be helpful when he wasn’t calling him “Reindeer Games”. For god’s sake, he’d only worn the helmet once on Midgard.

Still, Stark seemed both suspicious and amused by Loki, especially after that first meeting. He’d enlisted Pepper’s help to get Loki a proper suit for tonight’s party. Stark had given him options, then left to get everything ready. Though what Stark could possibly need 3 hours to make ready, Loki didn’t know.

 

Darcy opened the door, and he turned to face her. Her dress was beautiful, as was she. It hugged her body, showing her curves in all the right places. And it was green.

He couldn’t speak for a minute, while she looked him up and down and gave a low whistle (which he had come realize was a good thing).

“Wow, you clean up nice.”

He offered her his arm.

She grinned and took it, and they walked to the elevator together.

The party was classy and as Darcy put it, “just the right amount of crazy, but in a good way.”

She had spotted Jane and Thor, and dragged Loki over to talk to them.

His brother was amiable, enjoying the party. Jane was still a bit cold, but in a way that she didn’t’ know quite what to make of Loki and his friendship with Darcy.

Fortunately, Darcy knew and liked all of them, so she was a good mediator.

The music when they walked in had been jovial, but as the hours ticked by, and midnight got closer, it got to be more rowdy.

Darcy danced with Jane, and Loki had been content to watch from the sidelines, but she begged him to dance with her.

It was nice, seeing her enjoy herself. Her hair was down, and she tossed in around in time to the song.

The fast paced music and the sweaty bodies and the colorful lights seemed to heighten the excitement around them.

He didn’t know how Midgardians danced, but he tried to let himself nod his head to the beat and to let Darcy’s infectious happiness spread to him.

For the slower songs he didn’t quite know what to do with his hands, until Darcy would put them around her waist, and put her arms around his neck.

Stark would occasionally call out how long to midnight, and finally it got to the ten minute mark. Then five minutes. Then 30 seconds.

The countdown began. Darcy had gotten another drink, but she had set it down before she walked over. She realized she’d forgotten to tell Loki about the whole “kiss at the stroke of midnight” thing. But she didn’t have anyone else to kiss, and hell, it was tradition.

She walked back to him,

10…9…8

the crowd chanted, more and more joining in,

Loki smiled as she returned to his side

7…6…5…

Couples were starting to face each other

4...3..

Darcy turned to face him, reaching up to cup his jaw with her hand,

2…1..HAPPY NEW YEAR!

As the crowd cheered, and couples smooched,

Darcy kissed him, pulling his face toward hers.

He was surprised, but she kept going, so he let his arms find their way around her waist and he pulled her closer.

She let her fingers lace through his soft hair, tilting her head to get a better angle.

All too soon, she pulled away.

“How’s that for a tradition?”

His face fell a little at that.

But she had still kissed him.

Thor and Jane had done their own kissing, and hadn’t noticed Loki and Darcy doing the same at first, but they’d gone a little longer than a few of the other couples, so after they broke apart, Loki could see Thor smiling and Jane looking surprised.

 

Darcy’s kiss had been a welcome surprise.

But despite how happy the kiss made him, he realized that might mean her death was sooner than he thought. This timeline was faster, or it seemed faster. His growing friendship with Darcy, Stark’s party, the kiss, it was all happening so quickly. He wasn't prepared enough.

And it terrified him.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's taken me a little longer to write and post this one. 
> 
> I admit to rushing this a little. 
> 
> As it's looking right now, this might be 10 chapters (possibly 11)
> 
> thanks for all the support! :D I'm so grateful

(Little more of Darcy’s POV from the end of the last chapter. As well as events that happen here.)

She had danced with him, happy to get him out of his stuffy little comfort zone and have some fun, especially with her. It was nice, even if she could tell he might want more than just a dance. The way he’d looked at her…like he wanted to devour her right then and there.

And secretly, she might’ve let him.

 

But then the dance ended, and she

 

The countdown had started.

She’d walked over, and planted one on him.

It was nice. More than nice. He’d pulled her close, she’d let her fingers touch his hair, which was really soft, almost like his lips…

 

But she’d stupidly ruined it by saying she only did it for the traditional aspect.

His face had fallen a little, but she couldn’t take her words back.

 

They’d walked back, arm in arm, to her apartment. They hadn’t talked much, but at least they’d laughed about Thor’s dancing, and Stark posting a video of it.

Darcy reached in her purse for her keys, and upon finding them, looked up

“I had so much fun. Thanks for coming, Lokster.”

He smiled at her pet name for him, even as he tried to mask his earlier emotions about the kiss and what was to come.

“You needed an escort”

“You needed more fun in your life,” it was said with a smile, but he detected her concern underneath it.

They said goodnight, and she closed her door.

She hoped he had fun, had a taste of the good things about “Midgard” as it was called. Maybe it was a little unrefined, but he needed some good in his life, after everything. Even everything he’d done before.

When he’d randomly kissed her, before she’d properly met him, she’d responded because it was instinct, and it was nice to be kissed.

But this time, after all the months and talking, the subtle flirting, hell, even after the arguments and odd moments, she’d kissed him. And she wanted to do more, have more with him.

She realized she was falling for him.

And she might even believe him, when he said he knew her.

 

With her job helping Loki get used to Earth, and become more tolerable towards human beings in general, she hadn’t had much time with Jane.

But Jane was happy with Thor, at least. And Darcy heard from her that she’d gotten another assistant (though Jane admitted that they didn’t always bring her food;   
“see Jane, you miss me”).

Jane had smiled at that, and they’d hung out. At first, they’d discussed general topics, the shows they were both fans of, things like that. But Jane had asked about Loki and how things were going. Darcy had replied fine, had even regaled her with retellings of conversations between her and her new assignment.

However, over time, Darcy wasn’t sure how to tell Jane about the growing feelings inside her. She’d shared a little, about becoming his friend, but not a lot else.

Jane would be quick to remind her that Loki was a criminal and a murderer and god knows what else. Thor believed in him, but she wasn’t sure she did.

Darcy’s mind would go back to that first meeting, when everything normal had been tossed out the window.

She’d been curious about it, even believed his story about knowing about her sister, but she hadn’t really known him then. She thought she did now. And what that meant for her, for her feelings for him, she hadn’t admitted it to herself (much less to anyone else), what they could mean.

She hoped it wasn’t just because he’d said he loved her, way back in the beginning. It had to be more than that. She hoped it was.

 

Loki had paced for hours after the party. If the kiss happened now, then Darcy’s fate in this reality was coming up sooner. (it was wonderful to kiss her again; though he couldn’t help but feel disappointed about it only being for a tradition. She couldn’t feel the same way about him as he did her. Or did she? No. It was too much to hope for.

 

He’d hoped she had loved him the first time, had been nearly certain. For her to love him a second time was even more far fetched. He loved her, loved even her annoying babble, and blunt honesty.

 

He should have known there would be complications from messing with time.

But he’d been so focused on his spell, on reversing the clock, he hadn’t figured this would happen.

But it was.

 

He finally had gone to sleep, only to wake feeling a little tired. But it wasn’t a problem, more of a nuisance.

 

The sun was coming up, casting its rays over the city. There weren’t many clouds in the sky and for that he was relieved.

For a moment.

But then he saw it.

One cloud, one small patch of clouds, looked normal at first, but then looked different. He went to the window, and opened the blinds.

They swirled for a minute, creating a whirlpool, then it vanished. And the clouds looked normal again.

It reappeared and disappeared several times.

He finished getting dressed, for time wasn’t on his side this morning.

He didn’t know what to do about this. Would anyone believe him? Or would they lock him up again, this time forever? Would they consider him mad?

 

He couldn’t keep this to himself, much as he would like to.

Even if Darcy didn’t love him, he would still save her life. If he could.

 

The idea came to him, the idea of what to do about this event. He had an idea of what it was, a possible side effect of his spell.

 

Darcy’s friend Jane was a scientist. So was Stark, but he would rather not deal with the Iron Man just now, even if he was getting used to him.

Maybe Jane wouldn’t listen to him, maybe she would shut him out. But he had to try.

 

As it happened, Darcy had taken a break to see Jane and see Bruce Banner.

Loki had decided to go with her, and possibly talk to Jane about what the strange phenomenon

Darcy was talking to Bruce, aka the Hulk, about her experience in New Mexico and asked him questions about if he had any interns and if he paid them, etc. The Doctor seemed amused by her, so Loki walked over to Jane’s station.

 

The table was messy with papers and on another table, lab equipment, and finally bigger equipment standing alone.

Jane had given him the side eye when he wandered over, trying to be casual about it.

But he had to do this quickly.

 

Not many things unnerved him, but Jane’s glaring was doing the trick.

He would’ve smiled at her concern for Darcy and her suspicion towards him, but he walked over, facing directly across from her.

He decided to get right to the point.

 

“Doctor Foster, I’ve come to speak with you on an urgent matter.” He tried to let his words be clear.

The female scientist looked up, clearly showing her annoyance at being interrupted.

“I’m busy, Loki. I make time for Darcy because she’s my friend, but you, you are not my friend, so go annoy someone else.”

Loki almost rolled his eyes, but he pressed on.

“I’ve noticed an unusual phenomenon, to do with the atmosphere, the clouds swirling, then returning to normal. Have you been studying anything like that? Noticed anything that would explain it?” He wanted to believe there was another explanation besides the one he was dreading.

Jane looked like she wanted nothing more than to take the chair she was sitting on and throw it at Loki, but she still responded.

“No. I have not noticed anything like that, not since your brother dropped from the sky.”

Darcy was nearing the end of her conversation, so Loki decided to tell the truth.

 

“the spell I used to get here, the time-traveling spell, it might have something to do with what I’m telling you about. I think it created a portal, as a side-effect. One that could let in others.”

 

Jane didn’t look angry or annoyed anymore, she looked like she was trying to decide whether or not to help him.

 

“If you don’t help me, I’ll go to Stark.”

That did it.

“What do you want me to do?”

Loki breathed a little easier.

“Meet me here tonight, bring a bodyguard if you wish, just remember this is life or death.”

Jane looked him in the eye,

“Life or death?”

“Darcy’s life. It hangs in the balance,”

Darcy was walking over, Loki had to finish quickly,

“I have to save her.”


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am not the most brilliant writer in the world, but I try
> 
> there will probably be 11 chapters total. 
> 
> some truth comes out this chapter, so be ready!
> 
> thanks for everyone who is following this story :)

Jane hadn’t been expecting a lot when Loki came over to talk to her. She had been decidedly cool towards him for a while, while he had worked with Darcy and hung around these last couple months, and she figured the feeling was mutual. However, he did seem different than he had been before all this. He wasn’t as hostile or sarcastic. Okay, he was sarcastic but he wasn’t quite as hateful towards mortals. In that conference room, she hadn’t believed him when he’d said he loved Darcy. She was her friend, after all. Had become even more of her friend lately, and so any declarations from Loki would be taken with a grain of salt.

And so when Loki had sat down across from her, she hadn’t expected this. At first, the annoyance and irritation at being interrupted was a familiar emotion, but not the confusion and shock she felt by the end. He had rambled on about portals and life and death, threatening to go to Stark if she didn’t help. That had been the last damn straw. She got along with Stark fine, but he got on her nerves because he kept pushing her buttons and arguing with her about her research and how her equipment could be adjusted. So she decided to listen to Loki. She would be damned if he went to that arrogant playboy (over her, a distinguished scientist.)

Also, him mentioning how Darcy’s life was in danger definitely did the trick.

She had been about to respond when she saw Darcy walking back over to them. Part of her understood about it being a secret. But she couldn’t keep this to herself. Darcy needed to know. And hey, if it would throw Loki for a loop, then so be it.

 

Darcy had enjoyed talking to Bruce. He had a lot of patience for her chatter, and even tried to answer her questions. But in the end, she could tell he needed space, so after promising to visit again, she went back over to where Jane and Loki were apparently having a very interesting discussion.

She thought she heard her name at one point, and sped up as she passed more tables and finally was nearly close enough to say something, when she heard Loki say those fateful words that would change everything: “I have to save her”

She could only assume the “her” in this case was herself, not anyone else. She resumed her approach,

“Darcy!” Jane stood up

“Hey,” Darcy stood next to Loki’s chair, “what was that about Loki saving…someone?” in case there was another “her” besides herself, she wanted to not look stupid about assuming anything.

Loki went stiff suddenly

While he tried to recover, Jane decided that Darcy needed to know. Loki might be mad, but he could take it out on her later.

“He has to save you, Darcy. Something about portals and life and death and spells and clouds. He wants me to help him, which I was going to, but you deserve to know. I hope you would have done the same, and told me.”

Darcy’s mouth suddenly went dry.

It’s not that she hadn’t believed Loki’s story when this all began, but still she’d had her suspicions. And over the last couple months, it had slipped her mind. Especially when she’d gotten to know him more and come to feel what she felt and….no, she couldn’t think about that now.

She turned to rambling

“save me? Buddy, I can save my damn self and if you think I’m some damsel in distress, then clearly you haven’t seen me with my taser”

He was standing up now, looking a little thrown.

But he didn’t have a choice.

Much like at the beginning, he would simply have to tell the truth and hope to whatever god that they believed him.

“Lets go to the sitting room outside of the lab and let Dr. Banner work,” Jane suggested.

They were all moving to leave, when they were interrupted

“Actually, this might be good for me to hear.” Bruce had walked over, and heard what the commotion was about. “I’ll call Stark, he should be here”

They all went to sit down while Bruce made the call.

 

Darcy wanted to hear Loki’s explanation. Jane looked slightly guilty, but in a way like she was trying to hide it, convince herself that there wouldn’t be any negative consequences to knowing even a small detail of the future.

 

“Start talking.” Darcy looked directly at Loki, trying to control her emotions and suppress all her questions. She could ask them later

Loki looked uncharacteristically nervous, but he cleared his throat and started talking.

Telling them everything wasn’t easy at first, but he realized he needed to. Keeping all this in was killing him. In as much as he had wanted to find a way to save her by himself, the timeline was already so different. It might not make much of a difference to change it more.

The original timeline had some similarities to the present day, his working with Darcy, but it had taken longer for them to show any sign of affection towards each other. There had been a battle, the Avengers against an alien army, and Darcy had helped by communicating over the radio different routes to take.

Loki had been in fight, and hadn’t been able to save her.

By the time the battle ended and people returned to headquarters, it had been too late.

“After I got the news of your….demise, I rushed to Asgard. I needed my spell ingredients to make a spell to go back in time and save your life. I decided it would be best to go back to the beginning, because it seemed the best course of action. I could calculate, plan the best way to save you.”

By this time, Banner had joined them, silently listening as did Darcy and Jane.

Jane looked less aloof and more and more curious about the science of it all.

“I succeeded in my endeavor. But in my haste, I had forgotten the side effects of time travel. When I woke up, all I remembered was your death and how it had affected…everything.”

Darcy’s eyes were watering now, tears threatening to spill and she didn’t care.

“In time, I remembered it all. I knew about you already, I was relieved you were alive. I loved you already. We hadn’t admitted anything to each other but I hoped you felt the same way.”

 

Darcy gulped at those words. It was true, she knew it. Somehow, he seemed like he knew all too well what she was talking about, whether it was about her family, or a TV show, or what food she should try to get Jane to eat that day.

Loki continued,

“But declaring those facts and verifying what I could didn’t make everyone believe me. It seemed to result in more confusion. I wasn’t sure what you believed or not, but I was still assigned to work with you. And I hoped I could still save your life, providing the timelines were the same, at least in some respect.”

He took a deep breath before saying the rest, the part that he didn’t know how to solve yet.

“But the timelines are different. Some things are the same, but more are different. It’s faster, this timeline. Events preceded quickly. I assumed that the battle and everything that resulted would happen sooner. Unless…”

 

Darcy waited a moment, then couldn’t keep quiet anymore.

“unless what?”

“Unless there are unfamiliar events in this time, and you die later, and not sooner like in the original events. ”

 

Die. Sooner.

 

Those words hit her like a hammer. She was just starting to deal with Loki loving her, and herself loving him, much less the idea that she would die in the prime of her life.

Hell, she’d never even been to Comic Con.

She shook her head a little. Now was not the time to lament what she hadn’t done in her 22 years of living.

Loki turned to her, and she struggled to hear him through the sudden buzzing in her ears, the silence that was closing in on her under the weight of his words. “I didn’t know if telling you would change anything, would alter the coming events. If you knowing your future would have some unforeseeable consequence. That’s why I wasn’t going to tell you, at least not now”

She closed her eyes, trying to understand. He was still looking at her when she opened her eyes. She forced out her next words, “a consequence like me knowing how to fucking defend myself against a threat?”

 

Everyone was silent.

 

Even as Stark approached, he seemed to get the idea that it wasn’t a good time to mouth off. That’s how serious it was.

“Well,” Jane finally opened her mouth. “What can we do?”

“I don’t know, Miss Foster,” Loki needed to think. This is not how he saw this day going. He’d hoped to keep this secret from Darcy, so she wouldn’t know too much about her own future. But then, he’d practically told Jane before, so maybe it didn’t matter as much as he thought it would.

“You mentioned a portal?” Jane continued, suddenly speaking in her sciency-voice, one that was curious and no-nonsense at the same time.

He looked up at her, “yes, a portal. Of sorts. I don’t know, I was hoping you could help me research it.”

“Yes, yes, it’ll take research. I’m going to need to know everything you do. If it really is a portal, we need to find out what it could let in, like in the Battle of New York.”

“ah yes, another portal, through which a valiant hero shall fly through to save the day, like I did. It should be noted that it’s someone else’s turn this time” Stark finally piped in, looking around like he hoped to elicit a laugh or at least a smile.

Jane rolled her eyes, and Bruce gave a sort of cough that sounded like a laugh.

“Stark, I might actually need you on this one.”

He actually raised an eyebrow as Jane continued,

“and don’t get any ideas about changing the way I do research. Got it?”

“Oh, I got it, you mad scientist, you.”

Jane turned to Loki then, who had been trying to catch Darcy’s eye

“Loki? Are you coming or not?”

Loki wanted nothing more than to stay and talk to Darcy about all this. Try to get her to understand. But he wasn’t sure how much she wanted to hear. She turned away before he did, which broke him a little inside. But he couldn't do anything about that now. He had to find a way to save her, to find out about this portal business, and prevent her death. It was what he came back to do. And he would save her, whether or not she loved him back.

He stood up to go with Jane. 

The intercom blared a message then, echoing in the hallways: "All Avengers and staff report to an emergency meeting in Conference Room B. Alertness advised, Code Red"


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Flashback/Deleted Scene 
> 
> later it gets back to the current events
> 
> comments and kudos appreciated :)

It was so much simpler before all this. Even though they had gotten off to a strange and unusual start, Loki spinning a wild tale had been the least of her problems. Work had continued as normal, she’d fulfilled her assignment and showed him what the world was like (well, what American TV was like anyway.) She remembered the first time he’d come over, she hadn’t known if he would like snacks or not, but she’d bought Chex Mix anyway. Nothing like a little salty goodness to give one a taste of true American cuisine.

Darcy had been deciding whether or not to start with The Office or Game of Thrones, or, as she had remembered only an hour ago, Firefly. She loved all of those, but she wasn’t quite sure which Loki would like the most. She figured Game of Thrones would remind him of his home, but maybe that was a bad thing? But from what she had gathered from Thor, Loki had had a decent childhood; it was the later years that had all the screw-ups and homicidal tendencies that hopefully Loki wasn’t prone to anymore.

 

The knock at the door had startled her out of her revelry, and she put down the DVDs to go answer.

She decided not to hesitate, and just be herself. Once she got going, it shouldn’t be too hard.

“Hey you, come on in. I figured I’d invite you in, Asgard style. Course, they probably have servants fetch people, right? or announce their presence, for like, important people.”

Darcy couldn’t help sometimes but to let all her thoughts out at once. Some people were annoyed, some had gotten used to it and found it tolerable (like Jane), but Loki seemed to be ever so slightly amused, if a bit solemn. He had walked in slowly, like he was taking in the place.

“Thank you for inviting me, Miss Lewis, Darcy,” He’d corrected himself as she shut the door behind him.

“Yeah, no problem. I know vampires always need to be invited into certain places.”

“Vampires?”

“You know, bloodsucking fiends that burn in the sun. Not that you’re a bloodsucking fiend,” she hastily continued, “you’re just….pale, and therefore resemble what a vampire kinda looks like.” she finished a bit lamely

Loki seemed to remember her remark about vampires and how nowadays they were all attractive and all the rage, though as far as he remembered she was speaking of fictional creatures, not real life people.’

“Well, make yourself comfortable. The couch is probably best, it’s in front of the TV. I’m gonna get snacks,”

She went into another room, and he heard her get out dishes, supposedly preparing food. If he remembered right, she favored something called ‘Chex Mix’, which was apparently “God’s gift to mankind”. He had to be careful not to seem too familiar; he didn’t want to scare her off.

Looking around at her apartment, he recalled all the memories that hadn’t happened (and though they may still happen, they would be different, even slightly.) He felt a strange mixture of bittersweet and longing.

He heard her coming back, so he made to sit down.

She sat next to him, balancing the bowl on her lap. She offered him some

“Want some? Chex Mix is great, it’s practically God’s gift to us mortals”

“We shall see if you are correct,” he said as he reached into the bowl for a handful. He already knew what it tasted like, but he figured he should act surprised, even if she already knew he knew things about her and had traveled in time and loved her.

He couldn’t believe he’d been so vulnerable and dare he say it, _foolish_ , for telling practically the whole truth when he had only just met her (granted he’d been a little desperate, and he’d only just done the time traveling, but still.)

“What do you think?”

Her voice brought him back to the present day

“it’s…tolerable enough,” he mused

“you love it and you know it,” she gave a half smile, before setting the bowl down and getting up to insert the DVD into its player (or “pop in the movie” is more how Darcy would put it). He remembered so much about her. And she was still the same, she just didn’t know him like he knew her.

They started with Game of Thrones, then moved on to the Office. He watched, taking in the drama of one and the humor of the other.

She made a few comments along the way, but didn’t talk as incessantly as she normally did.

After a few hours of this, she was starting to yawn.

Darcy being tired also meant she got more honest and brave (that happened when she was drunk too, along with being a giggly mess).

Loki had intended to try and react as he normally would, like he’d never seen any of the episodes before, but at some point, he let go a little and just enjoyed seeing it again.

“So, did you like it?”

“Indeed I did, Darcy.”

“I like when you call me Darcy.” She sleepily grinned

a small spark of hope flared, but it wasn’t a hope that she was falling for him, no it was more of a hope that maybe their relationship wouldn’t take as long to form this time.

“So the way I figure, Game of Thrones is like your home, and The Office is like mine, or at least, more closely resembling Earth humor.” Another grin, then a yawn. “Did you like your home, growing up? Thor hasn’t told me much. And I never really asked him about you”

As much as Loki knew about Darcy and her interests and the person she was, the question still took him off guard.

“I…had a grand place to grow up in as a prince. But I sometimes felt like I didn’t fit into that place, especially…”

“Especially after that whole Frost Giant thing?”

He gulped. It had been hard enough being vulnerable once, and that had taken a lot more time before. This was hard in a different way, having the chance to open up again and hope it still resulted in mutual respect (he dared not hope for more than that)

“I suppose, yes. Though the truth was revealed, it did a lot more harm than good.”

Darcy sat up a little at that, looking a little more awake as she asked another question

“What about now? I mean, you know the truth, been through some scary shit, even done some scary shit, and now come out the other side, do you think you would’ve ended up here if not for the truth?”

He forgot how even late at night Darcy could still think of profound questions to ask him, even if she was tired. Especially when she was tired. He seemed to recall her asking him if Frost Giants were actually evil smurfs, and if so, did that mean there an evil version of papa smurf?

He reigned in his train of thought so he could try to answer her as quickly and non specifically as possible.

“Maybe I would’ve ended up here anyway.”

“You mean because you time traveled here”

She didn’t sound fully skeptical, nor fully trusting. More just curious.

“I did.”

“and you kissed me”

He had to think quickly

“to see what you would do.”

She frowned a little at that.

Even in her sleepy state, she felt a tad disappointed

He regretted his lie almost as soon as he’d spoken it.

But he was just now realizing how dangerous it could be to tamper with time, even in a whole new timeline, about events that originally happened. There were only a few accounts of this spell working, he couldn’t say for sure what the consequences would be to telling the whole truth.

 

Darcy decided to drop the subject, as it was clearly time for bed.

She stood up

“I think it’s time for bed. You better go, or they’ll catch you.” She was smiling again, though still tired. She knew Jarvis monitored Loki and would alert someone if anything bad happened.

“It was a pleasure” He left off calling her Darcy. It felt like a privilege he shouldn’t have, especially after deceiving her.

They had said goodnight, and parted ways.

Darcy had gone to sleep soon after, though it took a bit of time to let her mind stop thinking about whether he was lying now or if he had been lying when he said he loved her.

The whole flashback ran in Darcy’s head like a movie. She found it hard to concentrate on where she was going, the crowd of people around her seemed to be rather chaotic. But she’d been one of the first to reach the conference room, tagging along behind Banner and Stark.

She’d sat by herself, letting her mind try to catch up with everything.

Loki really had been telling the truth, and lied about why he’d initially kissed her. She’d never pushed him on the whole time travel thing, maybe she should’ve. But he’d never been keen to talk about it, so she figured why press his buttons? Though normally she would, this time she felt it might be best to leave that topic alone.

She shook her head. There was an emergency meeting right now, and it didn’t have anything to do with her feelings.

All of the Avengers had arrived. Jane had asked her to stall before she went to work with Loki but as she hadn’t said anything yet, Thor leaned over to ask where Jane was,

“Jane is with Loki, they’re working on something related to what’s happening right now.”

“What _is_ happening?”

Fury entered before she could answer.

“There has been an upsurge in unusual storms and electrical storms in the past few months. At first, nothing seemed suspicious about it, but our sources tell us that another portal has possibly been opened.”

Mild chatter broke out, but Fury held up a hand, and looked at Thor

“Thor, where is Jane?”

At that moment, Jane and Loki both burst in, carrying papers and pictures, and something that looked like ray gun, at least in Darcy’s mind.

“Jane! What did you find out?”

“There’s another portal, linked to magical activity”

at this, mild chatter turned louder and more frequent  
Thor went up to Jane, and they talked in low voices. He helped set up whatever it was she’d brought in,

Banner, along with Stark, began peppering Fury with questions. Hawkeye and Widow exchanged silent looks, but also joined in. Steve at least tried to ask important questions and not sound too accusatory

Stark apparently didn’t care if he did or not

“Exactly how long have you known it was a portal? And how long were you going to wait to tell us?”

“What can we do? We should’ve been preparing already”

“what can come through the portal”

“How much time do we have?”

 

“PEOPLE!” Darcy was standing on her chair, taking in the stares

“how bout we listen to Jane, and Loki, they seem to know something. I do too, but I probably can’t explain it like they can”

 

There was a pause. She sat down and waited.

 

Then Fury nodded

And that was all they needed

Jane and Loki took turns explaining what the portal was. Loki glanced at Darcy before he started, grateful she had calmed the crowd. He knew he had to tell the whole truth, consequences be damned because the consequences seemed to happening regardless of what he did or did not do.

“I did a spell to go back in time. I hadn’t done it before, but I had too so I could save Darcy from dying. I was unsure of the consequences until recently. I know that magic itself can generate energy, enough sometimes to break down walls between dimensions, even open portals

Jane took over at that point, explaining everything scientifically.

Stark and Banner took in her words, asked pertinent questions, etc.

The portal wasn’t fully formed, but it was close.

By Jane and Loki’s combined calculations, it would be soon.

 

Suddenly, outside, they heard a sound like an explosion.

Hell had apparently started to break loose.

Then another explosion came, this time shaking the tower and throwing everyone to the ground.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Final chapter.  
> thank you to all who have stuck with me till now.
> 
> This has been a challenging, wonderful, stressful and exciting time writing all this. 
> 
> Be warned, I admit to bullshitting any technological and electrical information.  
> I don't think this has been my greatest writing ever, but I tried and I succeeded at finishing.
> 
> Enjoy :)

 

Ch. 11

Darcy covered her head and ducked under the table as the glass shattered and debris rained down around her.

She heard crashes around her, chunks of the ceiling hitting her even as she scrambled under the table amid the shouting and the noise. She thought she heard her name; it might’ve been Loki or Jane or possibly both.

Darcy removed her arms from above her head and opened her eyes so she could see long enough to start crawling and get to Jane. She hoped that whatever debris was falling, that it wasn’t strong enough to break through the table.

She could hear the Avengers suiting up, and when she reached the end of the table and poked her head out from under it, her speculations were proved correct.

 

Tony had his suit on, and was currently battling with no less than ten of these alien creatures. He moved too fast for Darcy to get a better look. But the Hulk was close by him, smashing up the enemy.

 

She thought she caught a glimpse of Steve and Thor, communicating with the rest of the team, along with Natasha and Clint. She couldn’t discern everything they were saying, but she heard snatches of “civilians” and “trapped, pinned down”.

Nick Fury said a few words, and then began barking more orders over a communication device.

Darcy stood up, feeling the bruises and cuts on her body from being hit with debris.

 

Another chunk fell from the ceiling, and through the glass (or what was left of it), Darcy could see something on the side of the building; it looked like whatever those creatures were, they were climbing up the sides. Some were still in the air, on vehicles of some sort, but it didn’t look like anyone else saw the ones that were making their ascent.

 

“Jane! I’m here!” Darcy rushed over to her friend, who had been crouched over the equipment she was holding.

Loki had been shielding Jane from everything else.

He stood up to face her, and in this moment, he looked both fierce and afraid.

“Darcy,” he started, “I’m afraid we must get you to safety”

More crashes, from other parts of the building. She hoped that it wouldn’t start collapsing before they got out. Outside the room, people were running toward the elevators and stairs, in a frenzy to escape.

 

Darcy turned toward Loki, and her conflicted feelings felt a little less so in the light of his concern.

Jane interrupted before she could respond

“We might have a way to close the portal. We have to get to the balcony, and then set up the machine. Loki, I know we didn’t finish putting all the pieces together but can you magically speed up the process?”

 

“Yes. I’ll do what I can. But if you’re trying to get a good read on the portal itself, the view from my apartment window would do better than the balcony” Loki again felt guilty that he hadn’t said anything before. All his worrying about the timeline seemed almost ridiculous now, in light of the impending disaster.

 

“What should I do?” Darcy hated feeling useless. And as much as she might hate to leave Jane and Loki, she needed a distraction.

“Help get people out. Then get yourself out. We can handle this. This should work as long as we get a clear shot. There’s not enough juice for more than one” Jane and Loki moved to pick up the machine, but Darcy’s words stopped both of them.

“What if we found another source to power it? A generator, a computer, something…something like the power grid to the building?” Darcy could feel the wheels turning in her head.

“that might work, but I can’t be in two places at once”

“You won’t have to be” Darcy’s words came out automatically, with a finality that surprised her. She was afraid yes, but she had to help.

Loki went still.

“No, Darcy, it’s too dangerous,” He started, but one look from Darcy told him that she wouldn’t be swayed so easily.

 

Jane’s eyes widened, “that might work. Here,” she handed Darcy a separate piece of the machine, “this is the battery. Its mate is connected here and receives a signal from the other one. Once you connect one piece to the grid, it’ll power up this baby enough for a few shots”.

Darcy nodded, suddenly feeling a lump in her throat. She’d gotten closer to Jane this last year, and she was grateful they had become friends. She reached out without a word, took the battery, and then hugged Jane.

Loki stood by, silence masking his inner turmoil. Part of him wanted to escape with Darcy and in doing so, save her life like he had intended to do all these months. Would it be her own stubbornness to be a hero that would kill her, as opposed to dying solely at the hands of a foe? He almost shuddered to think which was worse.

 

Darcy released her arms from around Jane and then turned to Loki.

In all she’d learned about him, she knew he cared deeply, even if he didn’t always show it openly. Right now, she hoped he didn’t care if she showed her feelings. In all the initial confusion, then curiosity, the bonding, and then finally falling for him, she couldn’t stay annoyed or mad that he’d had secrets that concerned her life.

 

She didn’t want their last memory to be of a fight.

He looked at her now, a pleading look in his eyes, but no words

 

“Be safe” was all he could muster. He knew she knew he loved her. He couldn’t force her to feel the same way.

Darcy let her pride slip away, and, before she lost her nerve, pulled him down for a kiss.

Time froze in that moment, as their arms laced around each other, lips trying to move and explore in a short amount of time.

The noise broke them apart, and time was becoming more urgent.

“Go!” Darcy exclaimed, as she turned away and bolted down the stairs, trying to remember where the grid was. It was on a lower floor, that much she knew.

 

“outta the way!” people rushed past her at first, but as she kept on, there were less and less people. She could still hear the battle going on, but it became strangely muffled the more she ventured into the heart of the tower.

 

Darcy remembered hearing that the grid was somewhere near an elevator and landline. Everything looked the same from where she was: concrete walls, the occasional door off a landing. Windows were scarce, as she reached the landing on floor 20.

“Okay, grid, where are you?” She tried to catch her breath, slow her breathing so she could think more clearly.

She didn’t see too many signs or doors, much less phones mounted on walls.

Floor 15 was a work area, she knew that. Sixteen was storage. The subsequent floors she wasn’t sure about, except for the party floor and her apartment floor, both located higher up. She briefly hoped that her living quarters weren’t too damaged, but if they were, Tony could fix them.

 

Even if she did find the grid, was there a passcode? An alarm to disable? She wasn’t sure.

She silently cursed herself for not memorizing the whole of Stark Tower’s architecture and layout.

 

One more flights down, and she found it.

The elevator had caught her eye first, then the phone next to it.

She was at an impasse of three connecting hallways, with stairs going down to her right.

The grid was on the left, and fortunately didn’t look like there was a keypad or anything.

She took the battery out of her pocket, the one from Jane, and prayed the door wasn’t locked.

It was.

 

 

She pulled harder and nearly cried with frustration when it wouldn’t open.

 

What could she do?

At that moment, she spotted a button.

She eagerly pressed it and she was about to try the door again, when a screen descended from the ceiling, making her jump a little.

“Darcy Lewis, Security Access Denied.” Her ID picture flashed at her, but the words blocked out the rest of her information.

“No! Come on this is an emergency!”

Darcy tried again, with the same results.

 

She couldn’t give up now, not when she was so close. And Jane and Loki were counting on her.

 

But there was no one to help her. The Avengers were out fighting, Fury was who knows where, taking care of the shitstorm outside.

“Jarvis! Can you unlock the door?”

The AI’s voice sounded echoey in the deserted hallway

“I’m sorry, Miss Lewis, but only Mr. Stark has the authorization.”

She had his number, maybe his suit would pick it up. She had him in her contacts list, she just prayed that even if he didn’t have her in his, that he would answer anyway.

 

“Please, please, please” she intoned anxiously, as she found the right contact and pressed send.

It rang once. Twice. Three times.

Her heart seemed to pound louder with each ring. If Tony didn’t pick up, she would have to find someone to help her and that would waste more time that she didn’t have.

 

“This better be damn good news, or someone I know and like, or both, because otherwise I will sue you for having my number-”

“Tony! It’s me! It’s Darcy!”

 

“Hey, Darcy, what’s so important?” She could faintly hear the background noise on his end, and hoped they had the battle somewhat under control.

 

“I need you to override your security protocols on your power grid so I can get in and plug in a power source that will help Jane and Loki close the portal!”

She said it all in one breathe and waited for a response.

“Gimme a second”

“We don’t have a second, Tony. I need this now!” Darcy felt her hysteria rising

There was a five second pause, a muffled explosion, and something that sounded like something bouncing off metal.

“Okay, kid, you got it. Make it snappy so I can stop flying around”

New letters flashed across her name

“Security Access Granted”

She let out a huge breath

“Thank you Tony, I owe you”

 

She stepped in through the open door and looked around. It a pretty elaborate grid, numerous wires and circuit boards, bigger than she thought.

 

Okay. She tried to remember Jane’s instructions.

 

Find a slot that would say “new source”, plug in the battery and switch on the receiver. Then pray it worked.

 

It took her a minute, but she finally spotted a hub with “new source” slots to plug in.

 

She tried to figure out which end to plug in, but she ultimately found it. A blue light blinked on and she looked for the switch. At first, all she could find was the off switch (she found that out by pushing it and getting alarmed when the light went off)

But, then she spotted it. It was small and black. She switched it on.

 

“Okay, guys, now it’s up to you” Darcy stepped back. It occurred to her that she hadn’t told Loki anything; she’d kissed him, sure, but he didn’t know if it was because they all might die or because she felt something for him.

She hoped she made it out alive to tell him that it was both.

 

Should she stay here in case someone found this and turned it off/damaged it? Jane had told her to help people get out, and then get herself out.

 

She heard crashing footsteps heavier than a humans coming down the stairs in her direction.

_Hurry, guys._

 

 

Jane and Loki made their way to his apartment, taking another flight of stairs, then an elevator (which still worked, miraculously). Differences put aside, they actually made a decent team.

Loki was worried about Darcy, and he could see that Jane was too. But they didn’t say her name; it would only make things worse. Especially since they couldn’t find her until this fight was over.

 

Some of the chaos had stopped, but the portal was still opened. Even if it seemed to have let its allotment of creatures in, there was no telling who (or what) else would spot it and decide to visit Earth that day.

 

Loki didn’t regret coming back in time; but he regretted rash action that may have led to this.

This time it wasn’t Shield troops, it was aliens. Which might mean that the other was still coming in the future. After this threat was taken care of, he’d see to eliminating the other.

He couldn’t lose her again.

 

They found some windows broken and the lights blinked out in his apartment, but fortunately, there was still daylight outside. Which helped them, and gave a nice view of the battle going on outside. If they had looked at the tower from the outside, they might’ve seen the aliens climbing in through the broken windows, trying to be undetected.

 

Jane and Loki carried the machine and its pieces inside and set it down. Immediately she went to work, turning it on, getting the position right. Loki, on the other hand, started pacing.

“This is the right window, correct? The one you saw the portal out of?”

Loki stopped, nodded, then went back to pacing, worrying about Darcy and

 

Jane said something else, but he didn’t hear at first.

 

“Loki! I need you to snap out of it, so stop pacing and help me”

Jane’s voice was sharp and insistent, but not necessarily angry.

“I’m worried about her too, and we’ll go find her after this, but we have to get this done. Don’t let the truth about what you know go to waste”

 

Loki knew she was right.

“What do you require of me?” He looked at her prototype machine. They hadn’t had time to come up with a name for it yet. He was sure Darcy would rectify that – if they got out of this alive.

“One second” Jane flicked a few switches, adjusted the similar battery she had given Darcy, and she turned on its receiver. It blinked on and she smiled.

“Looks like Darcy did it. Now I need you to connect these last two pieces, that help protect it from overloading and causing an explosion.”

Loki raised his hand, and with a flick of his wrist, the pieces were in play, the heavy power protectors doing their work.

 

The battle had been slightly quieted on their trip here, but they could hear it in the distance outside.

Then inside the building, they heard crashing. And something else: marching.

 

“Crap”

From that point on, their actions sped up.

Loki pointed out where the portal was. It was bigger than he last saw it, a gaping hole in the sky. Not much was coming out, thank the Nine Realms, but they couldn’t delay.

 

He helped her move it into position.

It was now or never.

Jane punched the button and it fired successfully, the beam reaching the portal and beginning its work.

Relief was near, but at that moment the creatures burst through the door and began firing

Loki immediately threw himself in front of Jane and tried to send a few doubles around the room.

His magic was lessened by the restrictions set in place by Shield, but he found a loophole or two. Some had weapons, some didn’t but once he was able to take those weapons from the defeated, that evened the odds, though it was still ten against one.

 

Jane stayed by the device as he fought the group, a few well placed doubles to distract, magicking some shards of glass on the floor, and being saved by Jane who had picked up a particularly large chunk of wood and rammed it into the back of the last creature all happened in a short span of time.

 

But more were coming.

And the device suddenly wasn’t working as well.

Loki used his magic to see if anything was broken. There wasn’t, and there was only so much he could do without fear of frying it completely.

“If I use magic, it might make it worse. Shield saw to it that I couldn’t use the full extent of my power”

“Go find Darcy, find the power grid”

As much as he jumped at the chance to find Darcy, he didn’t want anything to happen to her friend.

“I’ll put a protection spell on the room.”

He gave the spell, then closed his eyes, feeling his way in the building for the source of power.

The Nineteenth Floor.

 

Darcy reached for her taser, thankful she hadn’t lost it. But nope, it remained in her jacket pocket where she’d shoved it after it had spilled out her purse in the attack.

 

The footsteps came closer. It was more like marching, actually.

Her breathing became erratic again, her palms sweaty.

 

She thought about hiding, but she couldn’t leave the device hanging. She hadn’t thought of closing the door behind her, for fear of locking herself inside.

 

She didn’t think Tony would be too happy with her if she did.

 

Two of the aliens burst in, and spotting her, one aimed its weapon at her and fired.

She instinctually ducked behind one of the stations

 

Oh shit.

She’d left the device exposed.

More of them entered, and a few shots hit the equipment. Including the hub where the battery was plugged in.

She looked out and saw that the devices’ light was blinking, flickering on and off.

She only had one shot with her Taser and then it needed recharging.

One wild crazy thought occurred to her that maybe her taser could power the device, repower the battery long enough to get Jane’s machine working again and take out these baddies. But she had no idea if that would work.

 

The fighting was getting closer. In fact, she thought it sounded like it was coming from the stairs she had recently hurried down.

 

Loki fought his way through more aliens, sometimes dodging them altogether. He didn’t have time to kill all of them.

 

Loki couldn’t think.

Couldn’t breath.

He reached the right floor in record time

At that moment, he found the open door, flanked by a few creatures.

He heard shots inside, but they sounded like they hit machinery and electrical equipment rather than a human.

Loki reached the door and just as the creature whipped around, it twitched and stalled, and then fell to floor.

“Gotcha”

Relief flooded through him when he saw Darcy standing there, proudly holding her taser. She smiled at him for a second, and started forward but

“Now, help me fix this thing” She led him over to where she’d plugged in the battery, and he clearly saw the damage done.

“Can you fix it? And please tell me you can, and also that you didn’t abandon Jane” She didn’t look too suspicious, but it was quickly quelled by his answer

“I left her with a protection spell so I could help you”

“Good, now do your thing” Darcy gestured to the hub

Loki stretched out a hand, and flexed his magic. It could detect the damage, and he tried to repair it. But the loophole in Shield’s restrictions held him back.

“I can only do so much, thanks to Shield”

It looked like it was time for drastic measures

“Okay, then recharge my taser so I can use it to power this baby” Darcy retracted the wires back into the small device in her hand.

“your choice of words will never cease to confound me” He replied dryly, though not without amusement.

He fixed it relatively easily, giving it as much of a boost as he could.

“Okay, try that.”

“here goes nothing” She aimed her taser directly at the battery. At first, there were only sparks.

But then it hummed back to life, though it was still damaged, the light was back on.

Darcy pulled out her phone to call Jane

“Jane, we got it! Now fire at will”

 

The world seemed to stop.

 

The air crackled.

 

A sound like a huge flash of lightning cracked through the air, and then silence.

 

Loki was about to say something to express his profound relief that Darcy had survived this war, when she launched herself at him so hard that he practically made a dent in the wall.

Her hands wandered from his lapels, to his hair, to his shoulders and back to his hair.

His went to the small of her back, then traveling up to her upper back as they furiously made out.

 

Finally, they stopped to catch their breath.

“I love you.”

She said it. No hesitation, just the truth.

“and not because you helped save me or save the world. But you, all of you, even your issues, because hey I got my own laundry list of crap I gotta deal with, and I know you didn’t tell the whole truth at first –

“I apologize. I didn’t know how much telling the truth would affect everything. But I should’ve taken that chance. And it seems the spell to bring me here ended up causing this battle.”

“Yeah, well, it was my taser that saved the day, so I think we’re even.” She grinned

“Yes, it seems your Midgardian device has its perks”

“This Midgardian has plenty of perks too” She stepped closer, arms lacing around his neck

“Is that right” He angled his head to match her own

Their lips met and it started slow in its build-up, but then it got faster, the more they gripped each other, hands tangling in each others’ hair.

She reached for the buttons on his shirt, he reached for her jacket zipper, outer clothing tossed aside.

They resumed kissing, and got to point of Darcy shedding her shirt, and Loki’s hand reaching around to unclasp her bra, when suddenly they heard a cough.

Jane, Tony Stark and the rest of the Avengers were all standing there, with different expressions on their faces.

Tony was smug as hell, though attempting to look stern at catching them

Natasha’s eyebrows were raised, but in a playful way

Clint was impassive, but he managed a small smirk

Bruce didn’t seem to care, but he and Tony shared a glance

Steve was a little red in the face, but mostly just startled

Thor looked a little embarrassed at having caught his brother in such a compromising position, but he still grinned like an idiot that his brother had found someone like he had found Jane.

Jane had looked a little embarrassed on Darcy’s behalf, but she also looked like she was fighting a laugh.

“Well, if you two crazy kids want to do that, I’d appreciate you not doing it in such a public place.” Tony too was fighting a laugh.

Jane gave Darcy her own jacket, which Darcy took while Loki stood in front of her while she put it on.

 

“I suggest we all go back upstairs, or to what’s left of it. The tower is safe, the portal closed and I say we all deserve a drink.”

 

Without much fanfare, Loki and Darcy walked out of the room, closed the door behind them, and walked with the rest of the group back upstairs.

 

Darcy hugged Jane as they climbed the stairs, and then went back to holding onto Loki.

“So, how did I die originally?”

Loki looked at her strangely.

“you were shot. By Shield, no less.”

“Shield?” Darcy was confused

“I believe they were actually Hydra, though that detail had escaped me till now.”

“you should tell the rest. Especially Fury”

“I will.”

At that moment, Darcy called up to Tony, who was leading the group

“Hey, can’t we take an elevator so we don’t have to climb all these stairs?”

She couldn’t see him, but she heard his response

“Maybe you and Loki should, finish what ya’ll started back there”

 

Darcy rolled her eyes, then whispered in Loki’s ear

“Later”


End file.
